.:. Here is chapter one! Read it and tell me what you think of it, constructive criticism is welcome!

Enjoy!

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Rain

Chapter One

A Grey Departure

Melody's P.O.V

The clouds huddled together conspicuously, their dark curves moved across the sky as small droplets of rain began to fall to the dry ground. Thunder roared from the clouds as a flash of lightning flew across the sky and disappeared almost instantly. I leaned back into the cushioned chair and looked away from the small, oval window. I breathed in a low breath as I dug my nails into the armrest, bracing myself for impact. I pulled my small pink phone out of my grey bag and looked down at the bright screen.

Four-thirty p.m.

The plane should be taking off soon. Very soon. I squeezed my eyes shut and bit down on my lower lip, tightening my grip on the armrest. I grabbed onto a lock of my black hair with my other hand and entwined my pale fingers into the many curls.

I gasped in fright as the door of the plane swung open and smashed against the white wall. A heavyset man wearing a brown trench coat stumbled onto the plane, he exchanged a quick conversation with the stewardess before he began walking down the aisle of the near empty plane. A stream of rainwater ran down his face and soaked into his dark coat, drenching him from head-to-toe.

The distinct acidic stench of rainwater flooded my nostrils as the man walked past me. I looked down the aisle and peered down at the trail of water the man had left behind. The red carpet darkened in colour as the water soaked into the fabric. I leaned back into the chair and exhaled an unsteady breath, preparing myself for the inevitable.

The man sitting in the seat in front of me turned around with a questionable look. I pulled at the corners of my mouth until I formed what I hoped was a reassuring smile. Once he turned around I dropped the smile and replaced it with a frown. I focused my thoughts on the small bronze curls on the back of the mans head, distracting myself from the sickening feeling rising in my throat.

I unbuckled my seat belt and stood up. I scanned the plane hastily until my eyes locked onto the small bathroom door. I squeezed out of the small space of seats and rushed down the aisle towards the bathroom.

"Excuse me ma'am, you need to return to your seat!" One of the stewardess exclaimed as I locked myself in the small confining room. I completely ignored her and instead threw up in the toilet, narrowly missing the tiled flooring in the process.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and splashed cold water over my face. I looked up at my reflection in the mirror and caught hold of my pale blue eyes. The dark bags under my eyes mixed with my pale complexion only reflected how I felt. Sick. Very, very sick.

"Ma'am are you alright?" The stewardess asked. The three loud knocks she placed on the thin door threw me out of my trance and brought me back to reality. I opened the door and found a small blond woman wearing a flight attendant outfit, she looked up at me with concern while she fiddled with her small hands.

"I'm fine, just a bit sick," I explained, grabbing onto the door for support.

"I'll get you a glass of water after the plane has taken off." She responded, lightly grabbing onto my shoulders and leading me down the aisle. She pushed me into a row of seats and buckled the seat belt for me. She hurried back down the aisle and disappeared behind a blue curtain.

I turned around in my seat and plucked my grey bag from the seats behind me. I plopped the small bag on my lap and closed my eyes, gritting my teeth. The Pilot explained the procedure and told us when we would be arriving in New York. A small whimper escaped my throat when I heard "twenty-two hours". Twenty two freaking hours of this!

"You okay?" The man next to me asked. I opened my eyes and looked at him, the curls that had previously sat upon his head had now been gelled back into a more formal style. His cold blue eyes looked at me with a small glint of amusement as he awaited my answer.

"I'm fine," I responded, swallowing the large lump that had formed in my throat.

"Aerophobia?" He mused, an evil smile residing on his face.

I nodded my head in response while I bit down on my tongue and prayed I wouldn't be sick.

"Yeah my sister has that. She would always aim her vomit at me when we were on a plane as kids." He chuckled softly at his comment and then turned to look out the window.

"Sounds like a bitch," The words ran out my mouth before I had time to stop them. I never thought before I spoke, a flaw that had gotten me into countless amounts of trouble. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye and to my relief a cheery smile was all I could see.

"Yeah she is, but I love her anyway." Another soft chuckle left his soft lips and swam into my ears. His voice was a strange comfort to me and I couldn't help but smile at his humorous remarks and warm voice.

"If you ask me though, the real bitch is my ex-wife. She took my house and all my money! At least my sister is nice enough to let me stay with her for awhile." He shook his head and ruffled his hands threw his hair. I glanced down at his pale hands and noticed his ring finger was bare.

"Is that why your going to New York?" I asked spontaneously, not wanting the conversation to end so suddenly.

"Yeah that's where my sister lives. If I had kids I wouldn't be leaving, but I don't, so there's basically nothing left for me in Australia. That's why I'm moving to New York, what about you?" He leaned across the seat that separated us and raised an eyebrow.

A loud boom of thunder echoed across the sky as the planes engines roared to life. No turning back now, I laughed sarcastically in my mind as I sank down into my chair. I ground my teeth together and squeezed the bag in my lap as my ears began to pop. I felt like clawing my eyes out as the hurtful sensation in my ears finally exploded.

I breathed a sigh of relief once the pain was dead and gone. Several minutes later the stewardess brought me the glass of water she had promised, I gulped it down greedily and pressed the cold cup up against my forehead in hopes that it would cool me down. It didn't.

"So?" The man next to me asked, his eyebrow in the same position as I had last seen it.

"So what?" I asked, putting the glass cup down on the small tray in front of me.

"Why are you going to New York?" His eyes lit up in curiosity as he waited patiently for my answer.

"I just thought that it was time to disappear from Sydney. And what better way to do that than to leave Australia all together?" I choked out the last words as another pile of vomit threatened to spill. I gulped it down and looked back it him, he was nodding his head deep in thought.

"Yeah I know the feeling. It's why I left New York in the first place." His eyes glazed over for a moment while he lost himself in thought. I remained silent, unsure of how to respond.

"I'm Alan," he held out his hand and smiled a large toothy grin.

"Melody," I took his hand and gave it a light shake. I was too afraid to properly shake his hand in case the sickness in my stomach were to rile up.

"I'm not completely helpless by the way, planes are just my weakness." I explained, attempting to begin another conversation. He laughed heartily and looked at me with a broad smile.

"I'm terrified of dogs." He confessed, his smile only widening. I couldn't stop myself from laughing at that comment. Even though I felt worse from laughing I couldn't help it, laughter was meant to be the best medicine wasn't it?

Our laughter slowly died down and I couldn't help but notice the gathering of the two stewardess's at the front of the plane. Their conversation was hushed and frantic and they threw several looks to the back-row of seats. I followed their gaze and looked to the back of the plane through the small spaces in between the chairs.

The man with the brown trench coat was sweating bullets and gasping for air. His face was deathly pale and his eyes were nothing but dark, black pits. The stewardess must have been arguing about how to handle the situation. He looked far worse than me but his ailment seemed to be far more than just motion sickness.

The tall red-headed stewardess strode down the aisle and left the smaller blond woman standing on her own. All eyes on the plane seemed to be centered on the red-haired stewardess as she walked towards the sickly looking man.

"Sir are you alright?" She asked, her voice thick and heavy with a Scottish accent.

The man wheezed out a few words that no one besides the Stewardess could hear. She leaned down close to the man and listened intently as he blurted out more unintelligible words.

The man closed his eyes and ceased his movements; his large chest stopped moving altogether and he sat silently in the seat. The stewardess began to panic, she pressed her two fingers to the side of his neck and whimpered in fear.

"Rose there's no pulse!" She screamed to the other stewardess named "Rose". She fumbled through a small cabinet and pulled out a small red bag.

She joined the red-headed stewardess and jabbed a small needle into the mans chest. I winced at the sight of the needle but couldn't stop myself from watching this horrific scene.

The mans eyes flew open while he sucked in a raspy breath. His eyes had turned light grey and lifeless. They locked onto mine before he snapped his head up to the red-headed stewardess.

"S-s-sir are you a-a-alright?" Rose stuttered, clearly overwhelmed by the situation. The poor woman, she seemed to be in her early thirties and she clearly didn't know what she was doing. I wouldn't be surprised if this was her first day. The other stewardess with bright red hair seemed much calmer and far more composed, she stood beside the smaller woman with her arms crossed as if the situation were nothing she couldn't handle.

A lengthy groan flowed from the mans lips and flew down the body of the plane, forcing several gasps from the other passengers. In one swift movement the man snatched Rose's head and wrenched her down to his level.

And she screamed.

She screamed in fear.

She screamed in pain.

And she screamed in desperation.

The sound tore through the air and provoked several other female passengers to join her. The scream was filled with fear and pain, it was a sound like no other, a sound that would be forever remembered by every passenger on that plane.

A sound that wouldn't cease. It cut into me and froze me to the spot, making it impossible for me to move a muscle.

Several passengers, including Alan jumped out of their seats and swarmed around the man and Rose. They grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her away from him. A chunk of her neck hung from the mans teeth as a river of dark red ran down his chin.

"He bit her?" The red-haired stewardess stepped away from the man and Rose and collapsed into a nearby chair. All the blood drained from her face as she slowly closed her large olive eyes.

The passengers dragged Rose away from the man and gently lay her down in the aisle, blood gushed from her neck and sunk into all her clothing.

"What the hell is wrong with him!" One of the young male passengers screamed. His light blue shirt had specks of blood strewn out across it, as did all the passengers who helped rescue the poor, injured woman.

The man who bit her roared in anger as he ferociously attempted to escape from his seat. He clawed and pulled at the belt that constricted him to the spot but failed miserably. In another situation, something like that would have seemed humorous, but not now. This situation was all too serious. The man was clearly deranged and needed help. The blood that soaked his chin mixed in with the water of the rain and slowly faded away.

"What do we do with him?" Alan asked, pointing his finger to the chubby man wrestling with his seat belt.

"Nothing," I mumbled under my breath, "he can't get out of his seat, he's no danger." I added looking for any reactions from the other passengers.

"Alright fine, but no one go near him, all he has to do is push that one red button and he's free." One of the passengers commented, grabbing his suitcase and lugging it away from the man.

The man stopped his violent movements instantly and looked down at the round, red button on his seat belt. He shoved his finger at the button, missing several times until finally, his seat belt clicked and fell to the floor with a loud clank. He raised his head up and looked at the passengers with hollow eyes.

"Oh no." Alan muttered before he spun around and sprinted to the front of the plane, along with every other passenger joining him.

The man stepped onto the aisle and slowly moved his enormous body until it was facing the front of the plane. He stepped forward carefully and growled ravenously, a line of saliva falling down his chin and onto the floor. He stepped over Rose's body and stopped next to me. I couldn't move, even with the man being so close I still couldn't move. I shakily raised my head until I came into eye contact with the crazed man.

He parted his lips and smiled down at me, his white jagged teeth were dotted with red and his smile was overall... inhuman?

No one has ever smiled at me like that before, no one I knew anyway. I clutched onto my phone in my bag as a weapon, a useless and ineffective weapon but it was still a weapon.

The man I had seen stumble on the plane was now gone. He had vanished. Now a lifeless monster had replaced him, a monster that was looking me in the eye and smiling...

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